Decent follow-up to "Devil You Know," as Castor decides to become more of a paranormal PI than just blowing away the ghosts, now that he has qualms about their nature and destination. The different elements of the story (clients wanting him to find the kidnapped ghost of their child, Juliet consulting him on a seriously haunted church, and Asmodeus withdrawing from Raffi) all come together in a pretty satisfying way. ( )

I like this series. I like how it all ties together. I like the integrity of character that Fix constantly displays, even as he gets the sh*t kicked out of him. That being said, this is another dense, convoluted book. I'm on the fence about the level of grit and darkness (maybe just above my threshold?) and there's a level of people being horrible to each other that may be more than I want to deal with. I'll probably give the next one a go and see how I feel then. ( )

Meh, not really taken by this one despite enjoying the last quite a bit. Not sure why, Felix didn't seem as funny, the plot didin't seem as well connected, and the world-building was already stale. I'd been looking forward to some amusing Banter as the succubus Juliet learnt the ropes with Felix, but we just skipped all that and picked up the story a year later when she was more or less independent.

Felix gets hired to retrieve the ghost of a grieving couple's daughter, whom they believe has been stolen by a crazy ectomancer. Felix (much like Harry Dresden) is ever a sucker for a sorry tale and doesn't check the details too thoroughly. He's heard nothing good about this guy Pearse, and pursues him around london for some time, following limited clues, and frequently crossing paths with a pair of werewolves who seem to be hunting a similar trail, although Felix can't think of any particular reason for them to do so. Lots of mis-direction is thrown the readers way until the eventual tacky and stupid plot is revealed. By which time Felix is down to some limited choices all of which are bad, the consequences of which he may face in the next book. Or they may get blithely ignored.

Perhaps I just ins't the right mood for it, I have the third in the series which I'll try in due course. ( )

A ghostly whodunit turned into a "Hey, didn't you do it?"

Some of the storylines were slightly meandering until we got into the meat, but they served to remind us and explore a bit of what makes Fix a tortured soul.

Of course, this is pretty standard fare when it comes to the Noir genre, and it hardly makes a difference whether the main character wields a gun and a whistle to work his magic, (both figuratively and literally.)

While it doesn't really stand out too far ahead in the UF field, it is an entertaining read. Having a Succubus on the team certainly helps, and diving into the nitty gritty of hell and plucky satanists while working with and running from the cops does seem to maintain a certain nice tension level.

Some of the text is a bit clunky, but overall, I enjoyed it very much.

( )

I'm so glad this series was referred to me. The first book was excellent, and this follow up doesn't disappoint. In this novel, Felix is hired by a mourning couple who are looking for their daughter's ghost who was stolen from them by an exorcist. Of course, just like The Devil You Know, things are definitely not what they seem.

I would highly recommend this series to anyone who is into urban fantasy. ( )